Oklahoma governor indicators Texas-style ban on most abortions

Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits abortions after about six weeks of being pregnant

By SEAN MURPHY Related Press

3 May 2022, 23:03

• 4 min learn

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a Texas-style abortion ban on Tuesday that prohibits abortions after about six weeks of being pregnant, part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Court docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state within the nation," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

Stitt's signing of the bill comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's excessive courtroom that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact instantly with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the new regulation is in effect, they will instantly stop providing providers for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will nonetheless grant us relief."

The new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they're pregnant. A similar bill approved in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within the number of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' law that took impact in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe country might look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have regularly handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day off of labor, taking day out of faculty and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they were capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the result of a medical emergency, however there are not any exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would allow non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure is just not set to take effect until this summer time, and authorized specialists say it's more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless stays the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, based on information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the information reveals. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.